Avoid These Seven Rookie Mistakes

Your job search is stressful enough — you have to introduce yourself as someone who is the perfect fit for the position, submit a flawless resume and then wow interviewers for 30 minutes. Avoid making these seven rookie mistakes that could doom your chances of landing your dream job.

1. Submitting Applications Online

Applying for jobs online may be a waste of your time. Although job posting aggregator websites, human resources departments and industry publications post job descriptions everywhere as part of the 24/7 Internet age, this kind of job search isn't what HR goes with a majority of the time. The so-called hidden job market is where most the action happens. People talk to each other, prop up their own contacts and refer candidates based on word-of-mouth advertising. You still need a resume so HR can check your background, but networking gets your foot in the door.

2. Forgetting to Network Online

If you rely solely on traditional, face-to-face networking, you miss most of your networking potential on a job search. Creating a network means starting with online sources. Fill out your LinkedIn profile, add a blog post through the website's platform, and add links to multimedia content. Some employers use social media platforms to find candidates even when you're not looking for a job. Maintaining connections with like-minded people through your online network creates opportunities that may crop up at any time during a job search.

3. Sending the Wrong Networking Message

Don't ask a contact to keep an eye out for potential jobs from your initial contact request. Instead, send a message that you want to learn more about the company and that you trust the person's opinion. This breaks the ice and gets the conversation started. Once you start talking you can find common ground that may lead to a referral.

4. Writing About Mundane Things in a Resume

Resumes fail to stand out from the crowd in a job search when they describe mundane, everyday tasks that every candidate accomplishes. Examine your resume to ensure it explains, in concrete ways, how you edified your previous employers and took them to the next level. Write about improving sales, efficiency or customer experiences using raw data.

5. Including Meaningless Jobs

A six-week stint flipping burgers 20 years ago may not mean much in the bigger picture of your career. Include the most relevant aspects of your professional life in terms of your previous experience so past supervisors can verify that you accomplished what you said you did.

6. Talking About Generic Successes

Interviewers don't want to hear about generic personality cliches regarding leadership, desire and work ethic. Much like your resume, tell concrete stories about how you oversaw technology improvements, hired a team of 20 during corporate expansion or integrated a new sales strategy across the entire company.

7. Knowing Your Weakness

Chances are, interviewers already know your greatest professional weakness. How you answer this interview question reflects how you plan to work around the weakness. This question is one of character as opposed to hearing your honest opinion.

Rookie mistakes can destroy your job search simply because you don't understand what HR managers want. Knowing how recruiters and hiring managers find the best hires is the key to getting interviews and landing your big chance.

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